Urban Mystery Picture #9 Winner

Regular readers might have noticed that I broke a trend by not naming this post, "Urban Mystery Picture #10." The reason for this break from pattern is that as part of the reduction in posts over the next few weeks I'll, of necessity, take a break from this series. For those of you who have longed for the fame and, well, fame that comes from winning the contest, do not dispair: It will return in a few weeks.

Now, to review, here are the photographs of last week's location. First the challenge picture, then the beginner's hint:

Our winner, Holly L'oiseau, correctly identified the location as the Bijou Theater. She said the particular color of blue in the first photograph was enough, but the windows in the second were a giveaway. Holly is our second winner from Powell, placing Powell neck and neck with the Holston Building in the battle for most winners. Holly must also be the first person I've ever known who had a name which includes every vowel! I love that last name. It may be soon changing, though I'm not certain, because Holly is planning her wedding in the Sunsphere! She says we are all invited. (I made that up, but it's a good idea, don't you think?) You can learn more about the wedding and about Holly at her two blogs: Can't Fight the Write and Sunsphere Wedding.

Holly, ever the good citizen, picks the nose of a drowning man.

Urban Mystery Picture #9, #9, #9 (Beatles joke, sorry)

Well, I continue to be mystified by the photographs that mystify the Urban Nation and those that are simple. I figured the one I posted two weeks ago would be difficult, and Chad figured it out immediately. Of course, I posted David's photo instead of Chad's initially (my bad, Chad). I was certain that I was too obvious last week and someone would immediately get it - and we never had a winner. "Anonymous" guess at the corner of Haight and Ashbury and it is possible this particular window decoration could be found there, but alas, this is not San Francisco (in case any of you wondered). So, here's the picture from last week:

Urban Mystery Picture #8

I figured it would be easy for a couple of reasons: First, what residents in the city would be cool enough to have a Grateful Dead hanging for their curtain? Old City residents, obviously. And second, I had just published a series of posts about Jackson Avenue and I figured someone would put that together. But no. It hangs in a window on the southern side of the 100 block of E. Jackson

So, still looking for that sweet spot in which the picture isn't identified in the first twelve seconds, but after some thought and discussion is pegged by about next Wednesday, here is this week's edition. I'm going to give you two to play with of the same place. The first one is for advanced players, so if you want to only look at the first one and see what you can do, fine. The second is, I think a little more user friendly.

Remember, to win you need to be the first to correctly identify the photograph in the comments below AND you have to e-mail me at KnoxvilleUrbanGuy@gmail.com. I'll be in touch and we'll talk after that. In the meantime, everybody try to avoid the heat. Good Luck!

Urban Mystery Picture #9

 Are you sure you don't want to stop here and try to solve it with the advanced clue? OK, here goes . . .

Urban Mystery Picture #9.1

Urban Mystery Picture # 8

It seems it's either feast or famine. I haven't found that sweet spot, yet, where multiple people guess for days before someone finally unlocks the mystery of the urban picture of the week. Last week no one guessed and every other week someone guessed correctly with extreme speed leaving all other contestants with their mouths agape. This week was one of those.

Here was the Urban Mystery Picture:

Urban Mystery Picture #7

Our winner is our first (official) second time winner and the specter of a Holston Building domination of the contest rears its ugly head, once more. Come on people! Hit the streets and beat these guys! Can they be that much smarter than the rest of us? Oh. Right. Well, congratulations go out to Chad Boetger, who is going to have to get a different picture if he keeps winning this thing. He correctly identified the building in question as the building housing WDVX and the Knoxville Tourism Center at the corner of Gay and Summit Hill.

Chad Boetger, Serial Winner

So, still in search of that sweet spot, I've decided to post a picture that I took, so it won't be as arty/cool as Shaft's pictures (which we'll get back to next week), but we'll give it a spin and see what happens. Remember to win you have to be the first to post the correct answer in the comment section below and then you need to e-mail me at knoxvilleurbanguy@gmail.com. Good luck, everybody.

Urban Mystery Picture #8

Urban Mystery Picture #7

Well this week gave us a first. No one guessed the correct answer to Urban Mystery Picture #6. It was a particularly interesting brick design on the side of a building and there are so many of those around downtown it must be difficult to remember where we may have seen a particular pattern. Or do we take them for granted? As new buildings rise around the city with little or none of this turn-of-the-century flourish, we might come to appreciate them more.

So here is what baffled everyone:

Urban Mystery Picture #6

It may be that the difficulty was also increased because it may be out of the typical pathways many of us tend to routinely follow. Here's the bigger picture and the answer:

Fraternal Order of Eagles, Across from Immaculate Conception Catholic Church

Located at Walnut and Vine, it isn't even one of our extraordinary buildings, but the brick work is pretty cool. We'll have to brush up on our brickwork more later. For now, we'll leave that and return very much to the beaten path. See if you can identify the location of the photograph below. Remember, to win you have to be the first to post the correct answer in the comments below AND you have to e-mail me at KnoxvilleUrbanGuy@gmail.com. Good luck (and be brushing up on your brick-work!)

Urban Mystery Picture #7

Urban Mystery Picture #6

Perhaps the effort to be a tad more difficult paid off to some small degree: last week's winner took forty minutes and this week's winner took over twenty-four hours. Interestingly, there is a small asterisk to that claim: A previous winner recognized the site sooner, but decided to delay officially submitting an answer in order to give others a chance. Aren't members of the Urban Nation nice people? You certainly are.

So, to review, here is last week's picture:

Mystery Picture #5

Katie Powell logged on Sunday morning and thought to herself, "What a nice chair." Then she thought, "I know that chair." She correctly identified it as a condo across from the Downtown Dog Park. She got her rows a bit mixed, thinking it is called "Ryan's Row," but I believe it is actually called "King's Row." Ryan's Row, if I'm not mistaken is the row of condos on the hill across and diagonal from the Immaculate Conception Catholic Church. Still, clearly she had the right idea, so we have our first female downtown winner!

She opted to go without a hat, but to include her pug with her mug, since without her pug, Zoe, she likely wouldn't have been in that part of the city, so they are sort of co-winners, giving us our first canine winner. I offered Katie the chance to plug something and she said, ". . . encourage people to come out to the Botanical Gardens starting in two weeks to support Knox Kickball 2011!" Consider yourself encouraged.

Katie Powell and Zoe

Which brings us to this week's contest. It crossed my mind that I might take a photograph of a single brick and say you have to identify not only the building but the individual brick. We'll go easier than that, but this time my friend Shaft has served up some interesting bricks. I'll just make you guess the location of the brick pattern, not the individual bricks. Remember, to win you need to be the first to correctly identify the location in the comment section below. Next, you need to e-mail me at KnoxvilleUrbanGuy@gmail.com so we can exchange a photograph and other pertinent information. Good luck everybody!

Urban Mystery Picture #5

This is crazy. After two early easy wins by two residents of the Holston Building, I decided to make things more difficult and went for a more artsy shot. It only took until around 9:00 AM for a winner in that third contest. For the fourth one my friend Shaft cropped it down to a few toes and a clump of cement, so I knew that had to be more difficult, right? Here's last week's mystery picture:

After a mere forty minutes online this week's winner made a correct identification. This would be downright embarrassing to any self-respecting Urban Guy. At 12:40 the comment was posted saying, "The foot of the soldier statue at the corner of Gay & Church - in front of the old Courthouse." This is correct. It is the Spanish War Veteran's Monument in front of the Old Courthouse.

Buddy Ray - Week Four Urban Mystery Picture Winner

Congratulations go out to Buddy Ray who breaks new ground for the winners, not just in speed, but also in being the first winner from North Knoxville. Of course, Buddy Ray grew up coming to downtown Knoxville and remembers when Market Square was Market Square Mall complete with the mushroom umbrellas (look it up in Jack Neely's book: Market Square: A History of the Most Democratic Place on Earth).

So, now the gloves come off. No more playing around children, this is the real thing. I think we can take this baby seven days with the surprise answer revealed next week. Do you really think you can handle it? OK, the rules are the same. You have to be the first person to correctly identify the picture in a comment below AND you have to e-mail me at KnoxvilleUrbanGuy@gmail.com. Good luck!

Urban Mystery Picture #5

Urban Mystery Picture #4

Well, it's that time again. Once more I'm forced to acknowledge that you guys are very good at this. The Urban Mystery Pictures haven't remained a mystery for more than a few hours each week. This time, maybe we've made it a little harder.

First, last week's picture:

First Tennessee Plaza, Gay Street, Knoxville

Melissa Carr was the first to officially identify the location of the picture as the "First Tennessee Building on Gay Street." Of course, officially, it is the First Tennessee Plaza. Melissa is reveling in her new status as the first female winner of the contest, though she's willing to share a little glory with her husband, Scott, as he gave an assist in her climb to glory. She's also proud to be the first westerners to win. I took that to mean west Knoxville, but judging by the UCLA shirt Scott is wearing, maybe they really mean west. Their picture is posted below with a little twist on our theme: He has the hat and she has the glasses. Pretty sweet.

Scott and Melissa: Urban Mystery Picture #3 Winner

An honorable mention goes out this week to Buddy Ray who gave a correct answer via e-mail, but had a malfunction on the comment portion of the task. I think he's got it together now, so we may hear from him, yet. This also broke the Holston domination. Can they make a comeback this week? Shaft (AKA my friend Kevin) got the cropping apparatus fired up this week and made this a serious challenge for week four.

I'm posting the picture below. Remember, to win you have to be the first to leave the correct answer on the comment section below AND e-mail me at knoxvilleurbanguy@gmail.com. Good luck, everyone.

Urban Mystery Picture #4

Urban Mystery Picture #3

Well, for two weeks in a row the Urban Mystery Picture has been identified within hours of its posting. Will that be the case for a third week in a row? After this group of pictures runs its course we may have to ratchet up the difficulty level to make things a little more interesting.

So, on to the winner and to this week's challenge. First, here are last week's pictures. There were two of the same location:



Congratulations goes out to Chad Boetger who correctly identified the location as "The Tattoo parlor on Clinch in the Union Avenue Parking Garage." He recognized it because he had a hand in its development and construction. Of course, the garage in question is technically named the Locust Street Garage. The business outside which these lovely chairs often perch is the Ace High Tattoo Parlor at 535 W. Clinch.



Chad Boetger, Week Two Winner

 Chad also made an interesting point, which actually sounded like more of a challenge. Both he and David, the winner of the inaugural Urban Mystery Picture contest live in the Holston Building. He wondered if, in fact, there might not be a Holston Building Dynasty in the works. Are the rest of you going to stand for that?

Here's your chance to stop the Holston Express. Remember, leave your guess in the comments below and e-mail me at KnoxvilleUrbanGuy@gmail.com. Good luck. Here's this week's Urban Mystery Picture:

Urban Mystery Picture #3